Sofa beds



uly 16, 1968 SHAST'D 3,393,011

SOFA BEDS Filed April -5, 1967 H. D, SHAST/D INVENTOR.

HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 01 fice 3,393,011 Patented July 16, 1968 3,393,011 SOFA BEDS Hercial D. Shastid, Navasota, Tex. (Box 68, Montgomery, Tex. 77356) Filed Apr. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 632,501 2 Claims. (Cl. 297-440) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Sofa bed construction with the arms secured to the frame in a sturdy manner involving a plate clamp member attached to sections of the arms, and assembly or attachment blocks beveled for co-operating engagement one with the other.

The immediate invention relates to sofa beds, more particularly it relates to sofa bed end arms and frames constructed essentially of wood especially when used as a sofa, and to a system for securing the arms to the frames.

One of the chief disadvantages characterizing systems of fastening arms to frame portions of similarly constructed sofas in the past has been the resulting fragility of failing to provide sufficiently positive or sturdy securing means. For want of a stronger means of securing the arms of a sofa bed to the frame, all of which are made of wood in this category, the several integral parts have been nailed or screwed together, and thus may achieve temporarily a seemingly rigid structure, but which does not so remain very long in the shipping, handling and the ultimate daily use and moving them about in the home. For example when a user wishes to move a sofa bed, when used as a sofa, to a different location it is common practice to grasp an arm and pull or push the sofa bed around. Such manipulation creates a strain on the elements connecting the arm to the frame with the ultimate result in time the elements will loosen and eventually the structure must be repaired or fall apart. At best it must be considered a short lived sofa bed.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel system of connecting the arms of such sofa beds to the frames which is sturdy, strong and long lived.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel system of assembling and connecting such sofa bed arms and frames which will reinforce the total structure.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel system of assembling and connecting such sofa bed arms and frames in a step by step operation in which each successive step is made easier by performance of the preceding step and all of which result in a sturdy, compact unit.

More specifically, an object of this invention is to provide novel means for clamping and securing arms and frames of such sofa beds together in sturdy and compact relationship resulting in strong, long lived units.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent by reference to the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view with the top member removed of a corner of a sofa bed, the fore part of frame which embodies this invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the corner of the sofa bed frame and the fore part of the arm shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an isometic view of a clamping member according to this invention.

FIG. 4 is a view with the screw member removed, to illustrate the beveled members.

Referring now to the drawing, a front longitudinal wood member 1 of a sofa bed frame is secured to an end wood member 2 of the frame by nails or screws 3 and reinforced by a wood strip 4, triangular in cross section which is preferably glued to both members 1 and 2.

An arm is composed principally of vertical member 10 and horizontal members 11, 12, and 13 and leg 14. Horizontal arm member 12 is provided with an assembly member 15, while the member 2 of the sofa bed frame is provided with a companion assembly member 16, both of which are preferably made of hard wood and have beveled engaging edges so as to draw the arm in close relationship when the assembly members 15 and 16 are fully engaged. In order to insure sturdy construction members 15 and 16 are preferably glued as well as screwed to members 12 and 2 respectively.

A clamping member 20 is preferably stamped out of relatively thin steel plate and which when engaged with an arm assembly in upright position has a vertically disposed wing section bent at a degree angle with the vertically disposed main section of member 20, and which wing section is attached by suitably sized bolts or lag screws to the vertical arm member 10. In addition clamping member 20 has a horizontally disposed ledge section also bent at a 90 degree angle with the vertically disposed main section of member 20, and to which is attached leg 14 by means of a stud bolt and upon which the arm assembly and frame of the sofa bed when completed will rest.

As may be seen in FIG. 3 an upper corner of the clamping member is preferably turned over for added thickness when drilling and threading a hole for the purpose of engaging and securing a wing screw 25, which, when attaching the arm assembly and the sofa bed frame may serve to draw them tightly together, being separated only by the individual thickness of the companion assembly members 15 and 16. In order to insure relative consistency of sturdiness a lock nut 26 is provided with wing screw 25 which may be drawn into solid contact with frame. By way of clarification when the sofa frame and the arm assembly are placed into en-gageable relationship of assembly members 15 and 16 the lower edge of the beveled lower side of member 16 will be brought past the upper edge of the beveled upper side of member 15, and thereafter the action of the beveled edges of the two members in slidable engagement with each other will draw the frame and arm closer together until the outer faces of members 15 and 16 are brought into snug contact with the vertical con tiguous surfaces of the frame member 2 and the arm member 12, respectively. Through the lowering and advancing action of the sofa bed frame with respect to the arm assembly the outer end of the screw member 25 is drawn into engageable relationship with the threaded entrance opening in the clamping member 20 so that the screw member 25 may be employed to draw the frame and arm assembly tightly together and secured thereto by lock nut 26.

The assembly illustrated in the drawings is that of the right front of a sofa arm and frame or the left rear, which are interchangeable, when one is seated on such a sofa. Conversely the left front and right rear assemblies are interchangeable. In order to effect the opposite-hand assemblies of the pairs of corners it is necessary to form the clamping members 20 into two sets, one as shown and another set of two opposite hand, thus providing for the four corners of a sofa frame and its two arms.

While an embodiment of the invention has been illustrated by the drawings and described in the preceding specification it will be appreciated that changes and variations may be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is desired that such be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a sofa bed having a frame and an arm including upright and horizontal members thereof, a plate formed with sections at right angles to each other, means for securing one section of the plate rigidly to an upright arm member, means for securing the other section of the plate rigidly to a horizontal arm member, assembly blocks having co-operating beveled edges to provide for overlapping engagement one with the other, one of which assembly blocks is rigidly attached to the horizontal arm member and the other of which is rigidly attached to the frame, and screw attaching means extending from the frame to the arm adapted to hold them securely together.

2. A sofa bed in accordance with claim 1 in which the frame includes a longitudinal member and an end horizontal member to which it is rigidly attached and in which the screw attaching means extends through such horizontal 4 member of the frame and through both the arm horizon tal member and the plate section attached thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,678,088 5/1954 Jamison 297-416 3,030,146 4/1962 Faxon 297422 3,170,729 2/1965 Grant 297-440 3,171,690 3/1965 Weiss 29744O CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner. 

